UN-intended racism

2006-03-21

The Danish company, Lego, was rather surprised to see their famous (and trademarked) bricks used in a poster about racism. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights made the picture to the right - with a Lego brick, red as the Danish flag.

Lego weren't sure how to interpret it. Is Lego one of the "many shapes that racism can take"? Lego were also wondering why they hadn't been approached by the UN in advance, since Lego has earlier cooperated with the UN about a campaign. Lego complains about UN anti-racism poster.

“We feel that the message of this poster can be interpreted as if we are a racist company,” Lego spokeswoman Charlotte Simonsen said in Copenhagen.

“I don’t know if that’s what’s intended, but it’s definitely one way of interpreting it.”

The Geneva-based Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said no affiliation to Lego was intended and apologised for the misunderstanding.

“The poster is in no way a comment on the specific situation in Denmark or on Lego. It is unfortunate that the poster has been interpreted as such, Diaz said.”

The Danish ministry of foreign affairs contacted the High Commission, who promised to remove the poster from the web-page and their building Tuesday evening. A spokesman for the UN claims that this has been the intention from the beginning.